Jen Tucker's Rare Book Report
ENG 685, The History of the Book
Dr. Kent-Drury
Northern Kentucky University
Summer 2010 Complete title of the book:
The New Testament, The Vulgate Version of The Gutenberg Bible, also known as The 42-Line Bible.
Author:
Not applicable
Editor:
None
Publisher/Printer:
Johann Gutenberg
Place of Publication:
Mainz, Germany
Year of Publication:
1454
Edition:
Not applicable
Physical Description of the book:
The copy I examined was in relatively good shape. The covers, which are 16th century, tooled, brown calf with mitered corners over bevelled wooden boards, are a bit worn. There are brass clasps (hooks) that are hinged on the bottom and attach to the front cover. The binding features five double raised bands on the spine. The covers feature corner furnishings made of brass. The endband is a reversed loop braid. The book measures approximately 12 inches wide by 15 inches tall. The inside of the book is in excellent condition. It has a few notes written on the blank pages at the front and a hand-written table of contents for Volume II that bears the date "1569." It also contains marginalia.
The leaves feature two columns of black text in Latin that include hyphens and punctuation. Some leaves have initials in red (rubrication) and others in blue ink.
Contents of the book:
This is the New Testament. It is Volume II and is the sister of the Gutenberg Old Testament (Volume I) that is in Trier, Germany. The text is St. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate version, prepared by biblical scholars of Paris in the 13th century in an effort to produce a consistent and useful Latin text.
(Source: http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/houghton/collections/widener/gutenberg.cfm ).
Comparison between the library catalogue record and the physical book:
The catalogue record gives the provenance for this volume: Trier--Wiernick--Rosenbach--Houghton--Scribner--Poole. (I could not tell this by examining the book.)
The catalogue record also mentions the marginalia "Notes: A few contemporary and later marginalia; ms. table of contents v.2 dated 1569; later notes by Wyttnebach and others of Trier Stadtbibliothek. (Although I examined the marginalia, I learned more about it by reading the catalogue record.)
Bibliography:
See next two pages for listings of the surviving copies aranged by Hubay number and alphabetically by country.
Jen Tucker's Rare Book ReportENG 685, The History of the Book
Dr. Kent-Drury
Northern Kentucky University
Summer 2010
Complete title of the book:
The New Testament, The Vulgate Version of The Gutenberg Bible, also known as The 42-Line Bible.
Author:
Not applicable
Editor:
None
Publisher/Printer:
Johann Gutenberg
Place of Publication:
Mainz, Germany
Year of Publication:
1454
Edition:
Not applicable
Physical Description of the book:
The copy I examined was in relatively good shape. The covers, which are 16th century, tooled, brown calf with mitered corners over bevelled wooden boards, are a bit worn. There are brass clasps (hooks) that are hinged on the bottom and attach to the front cover. The binding features five double raised bands on the spine. The covers feature corner furnishings made of brass. The endband is a reversed loop braid. The book measures approximately 12 inches wide by 15 inches tall. The inside of the book is in excellent condition. It has a few notes written on the blank pages at the front and a hand-written table of contents for Volume II that bears the date "1569." It also contains marginalia.
The leaves feature two columns of black text in Latin that include hyphens and punctuation. Some leaves have initials in red (rubrication) and others in blue ink.
Contents of the book:
This is the New Testament. It is Volume II and is the sister of the Gutenberg Old Testament (Volume I) that is in Trier, Germany. The text is St. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate version, prepared by biblical scholars of Paris in the 13th century in an effort to produce a consistent and useful Latin text.
(Source: http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/houghton/collections/widener/gutenberg.cfm ).
Comparison between the library catalogue record and the physical book:
The catalogue record gives the provenance for this volume: Trier--Wiernick--Rosenbach--Houghton--Scribner--Poole. (I could not tell this by examining the book.)
The catalogue record also mentions the marginalia "Notes: A few contemporary and later marginalia; ms. table of contents v.2 dated 1569; later notes by Wyttnebach and others of Trier Stadtbibliothek. (Although I examined the marginalia, I learned more about it by reading the catalogue record.)
Bibliography:
See next two pages for listings of the surviving copies aranged by Hubay number and alphabetically by country.